Believing
as I do in the influence of heredity, being born in a Hindu family, I have
remained a Hindu. I should reject it, if I found it inconsistent with my moral
sense or my spiritual growth. On examination I have found it to be the most
tolerant of all religions known to me. Its freedom from dogma makes a forcible
appeal to me inas­much as it gives the votary the largest scope for self-
expression. Not being an exclusive religion, it enables the followers of that
faith not merely to respect all the other religions, but it also enables them to
admire and assimilate whatever may be good in the other faiths. Non-violence is
common to all religions, but it has found the highest expression and application
in Hinduism. (I do not regard Jainism or Buddhism as separate from Hinduism.)
Hindu­ism believes in the oneness not of merely all human life but in the
oneness of all that lives. Its worship of the cow is, in my opinion, its unique
contribution to the evolution of humanitarianism. It is a practical application
of the belief in the oneness and, therefore, sacredness, of all life. The great
belief in transmigration is a direct consequence of that belief. Finally the
discovery of the law of Varnashrama is a magnificent result of the ceaseless
search for truth.

Young India, 20-10-'27

I call myself a Sanatani Hindu, because,
1. I believe in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas and all that goes by the name
of Hindu scrip­tures, and therefore in Avataras and rebirth;
2. I believe in the Varanshrama Dharma in a sense, in my opinion, strictly Vedic but
not in its pre­sent popular and crude sense;
3. I believe in the protection of the cow in its much larger sense than the popular;
4. I do not disbelieve in idol-worship.
The reader will note that I have purposely refrained from using the word divine
origin in reference to the Vedas or any other scriptures. For I do not believe
in the exclusive divinity of the Vedas. I believe the Bible, the Koran, and the
Zend Avesta to be as much divinely inspired as the Vedas. My belief in the Hindu
scriptures does not require me to accept every word and every verse as divinely
in­spired. Nor do I claim to have any first-hand knowledge of these wonderful
books. But I do claim to know and feel the truths of the essential! teaching of
the scriptures. I de­cline to be bound by any interpretation, however learned it
may be, if it is repugnant to reason or moral sense. I do not emphatically
repudiate the claim (if they advance any such) of the present Shankaracharyas
and Shastris to give a correct interpretation of the Hindu scriptures. On the
contrary I believe that our present knowledge of these books is in a most
chaotic state. I believe implicitly in the Hindu aphorism, that no one truly
knows the Shastras who has not attained perfection in Innocence (Ahimsa), Truth
(Satya) and Self-control (Brahmacharya) and who has not renounced all
acquisition or possession of wealth. I believe in the institution of Gurus, but
in this age millions must go without a Guru, because it is a rare thing to find
a combi­nation of perfect purity and perfect learning. But one need not despair
of ever knowing the truth of one's religion, because the fundamentals of
Hinduism, as of every great religion, are unchangeable and easily understood.
Every Hindu believes in God and His oneness, in rebirth and salvation.... I am a
reformer through and through. But my zeal never takes me to the rejection of any
of the essential things of Hinduism. I have said I do not disbelieve in idol-
worship. An idol does not excite any feeling of veneration in me. But I think
that idol-worship is part of human nature. We hanker after symbolism. Why should
one be more composed in a church than elsewhere? Images are an aid to worship.
No Hindu considers an image to be God. I do not consider idol-worship a sin.
It is clear from the foregoing that Hinduism is not an exclusive religion. In it there
is room for the worship of all the prophets of the world. It is not a missionary
religion in the ordinary sense of the term. It has no doubt absorbed many tribes
in its fold, but this absorption has been of an evolutionary, imperceptible
character. Hinduism tells every­one to worship God according to his own faith or
Dharma, and so it lives at peace with all the religions.